Real talk, everyone – things are pretty nuts out there right now. You know the old curse “may you live in interesting times?” Well, times can’t get much more interesting than living through a global pandemic! Right now may seem like the worst time to start planning for major life-changing events like your retirement. Yet you’d be surprised that, even amongst all this chaos and uncertainty, planning your retirement right now is actually one of the best things you can do.
We know this sounds counter-intuitive, but hear us out. The truth is that there’s never a bad time to begin retirement planning. In fact, beginning your planning “early” is almost always a good idea, even when you’re doing so against the backdrop of the strangest and most “interesting” times the 21st century has ever seen. Here are some serious benefits associated with doing your retirement planning early rather than later.
The Earlier You Plan for Retirement, the Better
Retirement is a special time of your life. You’ve hung up your hat and freed yourself from the nine-to-five grind, and that means you’ve finally got the time and energy to do all the things you never had the chance to do when you were punching a clock every day. But the fact that you’re no longer pulling down that paycheck every two weeks means that you’ve got to plan ahead for retirement in the form of saving for the future in some capacity.
It goes without saying that the earlier you begin saving for your retirement, the better. The more funds you have at your disposal during retirement, the higher your standard of living can be – and everyone deserves a nice, comfortable standard of living once they retire. This requires good planning well ahead of the fact, and the foresight to understand that financial situations change over time due to the influences of things like inflation and market conditions. You don’t have to understand the intricacies of these things, but you do need to understand they exist.
Click here to learn how much money you need to retire.
The best way to future-proof your income is smart savings and investment activity. Yes, even in a time of financial uncertainty (or even chaos!), it’s a good idea to consider long-term, low-risk investments that will provide you with plenty of retirement income padding a couple of years or decades down the line. So get started as early as possible! You can also enlist the aid of a smart financial adviser with experience in retirement planning. Doing so will see your retirement cushion growing to the size you need to enjoy retirement life to the fullest!
You’ve Got Time to Research Your Perfect Retirement Home
There are other great benefits to starting early on planning your retirement, especially when it comes to choosing where to retire. While some may feel that they want to age in place in their existing home, in the long run, this can be a losing proposition based on the needs of a retiree. In fact, choosing an independent living community to retire to is often the best choice you can make for a number of reasons, but only if you choose carefully!
Aging in place often ends up not being the best option because your family home isn’t an ideal setup for an older adult. It’s all too easy to take a tumble down a flight of stairs or slip in a bathroom that hasn’t been fitted for our aging needs. The cost of maintaining an older house is also often prohibitive, especially if you’re trying to maximize your retirement income! Think typical maintenance like lawn care and snow removal, less frequent maintenance like replacing a water heater or roof, plus utilities and other monthly fees, not to mention continued proper taxes. This is why retirement communities are so popular: maintenance costs are much lower, helping you save money overall. Plus, there’s one more important factor of independent living communities that can’t be overlooked: the amenities they offer.
Click here to learn if a CCRC (continuing care retirement community) is right for you.
In fact, these communities often offer amenities that can make it feel like you’re living in a resort paradise year-round. Access to fine and casual dining, fitness centers and swimming pools (sometimes with on-site fitness instructors), walking trails and picnic areas, game and reading rooms, art studios and crafting workshops, and all manner of other activities and amenities, the best independent living communities can feel like a cruise ship without the ocean. The sooner you begin your selection process, the more time you’ll have to find the perfect retirement community for you.
It’s Time to Start Thinking About Retirement Planning
Planning for your retirement is something that you simply can’t get around. No matter when you retire, you’ve got to plan out the crucial steps that involve where and how you’re going to live, and answering these questions takes lots of hard work – especially if you want to ensure you have the type of retirement that you can look forward to enjoying!
This is why it’s so crucial to begin planning for your retirement as early as you can. Now is absolutely the time to begin putting those frameworks in place so that you have the resources you need at your disposal to enjoy your retirement and live your life to the fullest. This includes not just financial planning but also looking into retirement communities you’re interested in so that you can select a place to settle down that offers you everything you want out of a community. And the sooner you choose a community, the sooner you have a financial goal to plan towards!
Life comes at you fast. Things might seem chaotic right now, but that doesn’t mean things are always going to be this way – for better or worse, you need to be ready for anything. Beginning your retirement planning now is the surefire way to achieve that goal!
Want more information about retirement and retirement living? Visit the Acts Retirement-Life Community Blog or Resource section or check out any of these articles:
